Exiles Put Newport To The Sword

London Irish inflicted Newport's heaviest defeat in their three seasons in the Heineken Cup. The Gwent club now prop up the Pool and have no chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

To make matters worse, they had skipper Simon Rauiwalui sent to the sin bin just before Everitt's try for a dangerous tackle and then his lock partner Ian Gough followed him for stamping.

London Irish lost Kieron Dawson to the sin bin early in the second half for killing the ball, but it didn't impede their progress as they ran in three more tries after the break.

The exiles have given themselves an outside chance of reaching the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

If they can beat Edinburgh at Meadowbank, and then topple the Pool 5 leaders Toulouse at the Madejski, they could end up with eight points. That could be enough to win one of the final two quarter-final places as a best runner-up.

London Irish director of rugby Conor O'Shea had been critical of his side following thier 16-12 defeat at Newport, but there was no doubting their intent on home soil. They injected pace and urgency into everything they did and raced into a 21-0 interval lead.

Barry Everitt, who had shunned two easy penalty chances at Rodney Parade as his side went for the tries, kicked three penalties and converted his own try after 15 minutes. Wing Justin Bishop grabbed the other first half try.

In the end, Everitt helped himself to 22 points and Newport had to wait until the final moments of the game, by which time they had conceded five tries and 42 points, before they troubled the scoreboard with a try by Wales centre Jason Jones-Hughes.

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